Curated category
20th-century American historians
- James M. McPhersonJames Munro McPherson arrived in the world on the 11th of October 1936. His birthplace was Valley City, North Dakota. This small town shaped his early years…
- Ezra PoundEzra Weston Loomis Pound was born on the 30th of October 1885 in a two-story clapboard house in Hailey, Idaho Territory.
- John A. GarratyJohn Arthur Garraty was born on the 4th of July in 1920. He earned his undergraduate degree at Brooklyn College in 1941.
- Charles A. BeardCharles Austin Beard was born on the 27th of November 1874 in Knightstown, Indiana. He grew up working on a family farm in the Corn Belt region.
- Daniel YerginDaniel Howard Yergin arrived in the world on the 6th of February 1947. He grew up in Los Angeles, California. His father Irving worked at Warner Brothers and…
- Lynn ThorndikeLynn Thorndike coined a phrase that historians still use every day, and he did it almost in passing. In A Short History of Civilization, published in 1926…
- Marshall HodgsonMarshall Hodgson was born on the 11th of April 1922 in Richmond, Indiana. He grew up within a practicing Quaker family that shaped his early worldview.
- George Dyson (science historian)George Dyson lived inside a wooden structure thirty meters above the ground. He built this shelter from salvaged materials on the shore of Burrard Inlet…
- C. Vann WoodwardComer Vann Woodward entered the world on the 13th of November 1908 in Vanndale, Arkansas. This small town served as the county seat from 1886 until 1903 and…
- John Patrick DigginsJohn Patrick Diggins entered the world on the 1st of April 1935, in San Francisco. His father worked as a gardener for the City of San Francisco while his…
- George SartonGeorge Sarton buried his life's work in a garden in Belgium. It was August 1914, and German soldiers were advancing on Ghent.
- Hans JonasHans Jonas was born in the German city of Mönchengladbach on the 10th of May 1903. He grew up within a Jewish family during a time when European society was…
- Allan NevinsJoseph Allan Nevins arrived in the world on the 20th of May 1890. He entered life within Camp Point, Illinois, a small town where his father worked as a…
- Shelby FooteShelby Dade Foote Jr. was born on the 17th of November 1916 in Greenville, Mississippi. His father worked for Armour and Company, moving the family from…
- George F. KennanGeorge Frost Kennan arrived in the world on the 16th of February 1904, within a household in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His father was Kossuth Kent Kennan, a…
- Joan KellyJoan Kelly entered the world on the 29th of March 1928 in Brooklyn. Her father was George V. Kelly and her mother was Ruth Jacobsen.
- Stephen GreenblattStephen Jay Greenblatt arrived in the world on the 7th of November 1943. He grew up in Newton, Massachusetts after his family moved from Boston.
- Victor Davis HansonVictor Davis Hanson was born on the 5th of September 1953 in Selma, California. He grew up working the family orchard and vineyard that had been in his…
- Claudia GoldinClaudia Dale Goldin was born in the Bronx, New York City on the 14th of May 1946. Her father Leon Goldin worked as a data processing manager at Burlington…
- Bruce CattonCharles Bruce Catton was born on the 9th of October 1899 in Petoskey, Michigan. He grew up in Benzonia, a small town where his father served as headmaster of…
- E. Merton CoulterEllis Merton Coulter entered the world on the 20th of July 1890 in Catawba, North Carolina. His father John Ellis Coulter was a merchant and land speculator…
- Stephen B. OatesStephen Baery Oates entered the world in Pampa, Texas, on the 5th of January 1936. The small town offered no immediate path to national history fame for a…
- Lewis MumfordLewis Mumford was born on the 19th of October 1895 in Flushing, Queens. He grew up in a household that valued education and culture.
- Eric FonerEric Foner was born on the 7th of February 1943 in New York City. His father Jack D. Foner worked actively within the trade union movement and campaigned for…
- Joel WhitburnJoel Carver Whitburn was born in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin on the 29th of November 1939. He began collecting records during his teenage years while living in the…
- Hans KohnHans Kohn was born on the 15th of September 1891 into a German-speaking Jewish family in Prague. The city belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire at that…